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NEWARK, N.J. -- Kevin Cheveldayoff did little to shoot down the latest speculation that has Russian forward Alex Burmistrov bolting the Winnipeg Jets to play in the Kontinental Hockey League.

Burmistrov, 21, became a restricted free agent on July 1 and reports circulated on Sunday that he was on the verge of signing a two-year contract with Ak-Bars Kazan, his hometown club.

The latest in a long line of reports had Burmistrov's Russian agent telling championat.com that the deal was close.

"There's lots of rumours out there, I can't get into too, too much," Cheveldayoff said Sunday. "I guess if it's a choice of his that he does want to go play in Russia, I can't compete with that.

"But we'll continue to negotiate and we'll continue to see how it goes from that point on."

A message sent to Burmistrov's agent Mark Gandler was not returned, but he's been saying for months that his client wasn't going to sign in the KHL.

There was also a report Sunday that the Calgary Flames were looking at dealing for Burmistrov but nothing happened on that front.

Burmistrov, the eighth pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has 23 goals and 58 points in 194 NHL games but had only four goals and 10 points in 44 games with the Jets last season and spent time in the press box as a healthy scratch.